1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tool change magazine (hereinafter also referred to as a “magazine”) which makes it possible to use unskilled operators in operating a laser beam machine, maximize machining quality and productivity for each material and workpiece thickness, and accomplish long, unattended operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known plasma machine capable of changing a torch automatically (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 6-304755 (Patent Document 1)). The plasma machine is equipped with a torch change system comprising a stocker (disk) indexable by an NC system.
The torch change system described above changes tools using an indexing mechanism, and thus requires an extra drive system (rotational axis) other than linear axes. This increases overall machine cost, makes the machine complex, and lowers reliability.
Further, since tools are arranged on the circumference of the stocker, if they are large in number, the size of the disk is increased, taking up a great amount of space.
The stocker is located in a machining area, making it very dangerous to pick up a tool from the stocker manually for a tool change. Thus, when changing a tool, machining must be stopped, reducing productivity greatly.
Since distance between a machining point and the rotational center of the disk-like stocker is fixed on the disk-shaped stocker, installation space of the stocker is restricted. This limits the number and size of tools in the stocker and causes interference between the stocker and workpiece when the workpiece is mounted and dismounted, resulting in greatly reduced operability.